Silverado’s Johnson seeks to be pioneer for girls flag football in Nevada
My daughter turns 7 in July. Her knowledge of sports consists of 1) underwater competitions between SpongeBob and Sandy; 2) how to read a television scoreline graphic; 3) anything valid she can discover from the nonsense in this space, if she ever decides to read it; and 4) asking questions about history’s top female stars.
So she dribbles a soccer ball and talks about being the next Mia Hamm.
And she learns to pitch a softball and hangs a poster in her bedroom and dreams about being the next Jennie Finch.
My hope for her: She becomes the next Nikki Johnson.
Not for the ability to throw a spiral or win a national championship, of which Johnson has two. Not for being the country’s best quarterback in girls flag football, which anyone who has watched Johnson insists is not an arguable point.
That sort of stuff is the frame to a bigger picture, the side salad to a main course.
My hope for her: She grows up to have Johnson’s strength, passion, confidence, resiliency, drive and poise.
About music. Sports. Literature. Wherever life’s path leads her.
Mostly, about being a woman.
Johnson is 17 and will be a senior at Silverado High School in the fall, one of 10 prep females nationally asked by the NFL to further develop girls flag football at high schools across the country, to help push for its inclusion as an interscholastic sport with the long-term goal of colleges offering scholarships in it.
It’s a long trip from here to a Sunrise Region game and years (if ever) from a young woman deciding between a full-ride opportunity of pulling blue flags at UCLA or red ones at Nebraska. The odds of the latter happening probably rank up there with Bill Belichick inviting Matt Walsh over for Thanksgiving.
But if every new journey begins with a vision, there is usually a voice behind it barking directions. I don’t know if girls flag football will be a recognized NIAA sport, but I wouldn’t want to be the person who turns Johnson down.
“My hope is that it’s a sport offered next year and I can play, but if that doesn’t happen, my main goal is making sure the opportunity is eventually there for all girls,” Johnson said. “I want it to take as long as it does to get done. I feel a big responsibility to make it happen here in Las Vegas.
“I want to be one of the pioneers of making this happen across the country. I want to convince people how much this would benefit so many girls who play this sport and love it as much as I do.”
It began in fourth grade, when playing the game with boys at school led to Johnson being the first female in the history of the Henderson Flag Football League.
She wanted to play tackle, but her parents never took to the idea of her trying to avoid the rush of a much larger and stronger linebacker, so she competed in co-ed flag until age 12. She then moved into an all-girls division; led her team to three national finals in Orlando, Fla.; won two; opened the eyes of those who run the NFL’s youth football department; made her mother and father and two brothers extremely proud; grew into a 5-foot-5-inch, 130-pound package of enthusiasm; and has now gladly accepted the task of leading this specific pursuit.
Girls flag football is offered in high schools across Florida (161 schools, 4,800 participants) and Alaska, the latter as a way to help gender equity numbers and probably because it never hurts to offer an activity where summer passing leagues can occur in the daylight of 4 a.m.
It won’t happen here tomorrow but should. Johnson already has received support from Silverado officials and has meetings set with those from other Sunrise schools. The district level would come next. Then the NIAA. Approval is a long road to travel.
It would be ridiculous not to at least deliberate adopting the sport, given the NFL has agreed for the first year to help subsidize a program for any school that agrees to pilot a team. It seems silly to think an organization in Nevada that sanctions bowling and skiing wouldn’t also consider fielding girls flag football.
“Nikki has been taught from Day One to be a strong woman by her mother (Brenda) and my wife (Joyce),” said Bill Cheverino, who brought Johnson into the HFFL and five years ago began the Western Athletic Sports Unified Program, for which she has won several championships.
“She has been taught to always embrace her dreams. I’ve been around flag football for 25 years all over the country and there is no one better than Nikki to fly this banner.”
She is someone for little girls everywhere to emulate, the one you want on your daughter’s bedroom poster.
Ed Graney’s column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 702-383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.
